Thursday - nearly there!

Hey guess what?!

There's only ......ONE MORE GET UP!!!!!

Oops sorry.  Got a little bit excited then didn't I?!

The closer it gets to the big day, however, the busier it gets at work.  I guess working in a probate department there's always going to be that whiff of cold hard cash to be chased right down to the last possible hour of the working day!

It was our departmental lunch this afternoon and all 30 of us adjourned to a ridiculously overrated and up it's own arse fashionably and achingly hip hostelry for some festive food.  I always feel out of place in these sort of places where the beautiful people hang out and you need to take a mortgage out to buy a bottle of wine, but hey ho - I had no say in the matter, and it was paid for!  

My chosen starter was very disappointing.  This was:-

Black pudding stacked between puff pastry with apple & vanilla puree and sherry vinaigrette  Well - there was a slice of black pudding sat on top of a - well - I couldn't make out whether it was simply undercooked or not cooked at all circle of puff pastry   There was no puff in it at all.  Bleurgh! Quite frankly.   The apple and vanilla puree was a splodge of airy nothingness and as for the sherry vinaigrette - well I'm afraid I've never seen green sherry and the arty drizzle around the edge of the plate was more akin to olive oil than sherry vinaigrette. Methinks a nil point was scored for this particular starter.  

My main of Braised beef in red wine with creamy parsley mash and horseradish crème fraiche topped with crispy onions fared much better.  A hunk of melting, tender beef was the star of the plate.  This was beautifully cooked and fell apart at the touch of a fork.  The mash was indeed creamy and the creme fraiche was tangy with just the right amount of horseradish for a little kick to cut through the richness of the beef.  This was served with crushed root vegetables with rosemary and simply presented brussels.

Pud was a very decadent Italian chocolate Torta Macao with crème fraiche - or chocolate tart to you and me.  Dense and chocolatey and teeth dissolvingly rich - it did what it was supposed to and had the obligatory slice of strawberry to boot.  Natch. 

£24.99 for what was essentially an inch of black pudding, a bit of shin of beef and some veg and a sliver of choccie tart.  Money for old rope really innit?!  

When I got home this evening the house had been christmassified!  Some of you will remember my post about our rock an' roll tree from last year.  This year its much the same - but instead of Sid on top of the tree, my Green Santa is back in pride of place.  Here's a few photos! 

Changing the subject completely - have any of your been following the Last Tango in Halifax series?  Oh my word what wonderful acting.  I loved every minute of it right up until the last ten minutes last night which I watched through my fingers with tears dripping off my nose.  If you haven't seen it I'm sure you can find it on Iplayer or something similar. Here's the link  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p1q6x

See you soon!! 

xxx